Cinematics
by karnival
Summary: Using movie titles as inspiration for various drabbles mostly on Mugen and Fuu.
1. Castle in the Sky

**Cinematics**

**A/N: **The movies themselves have nothing to do with the ficlets! Just their titles. :) The way I write these is I think of or look at random movie titles, and only the ones that inspire me within ten seconds or so get a fic, which is not every time, haha.

So if/when you review, let me know some of your favorite movies! I can't guarantee a fic out of them, but it could help.

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**Castle in the sky  
**

It was atypical for Fuu to be silent on another one of their long walks into the next town. If anyone were to try holding a conversation, it would be her. Because of this, it irked Mugen a little that all he could hear was the shuffling of their feet along the dirt path. He realized that silence was great for a while, but not for this long.

"Why so quiet?" Mugen found himself asking. With Fuu in front of him and Jin behind him, there was no way his question could have gone unheard. Yet he still received no response. It wasn't unusual to get the cold shoulder from Jin, but Mugen had enough of Fuu's silent treatment already. For his second attempt at breaking the ice, Mugen walked a few extra steps ahead until he found himself walking beside his female companion. "Yo, d'ya hear me? What are ya looking at?"

Mugen noticed that Fuu had been staring off into the sky for some time. He wondered what was up there that could hold so much of her interest.

"The clouds," Fuu finally responded. "But you wouldn't care anyway, so why bother?"

"Well maybe I can ask the clouds what they did to shut you up for so long."

"It's the shapes," said Fuu, unaffected by Mugen's comment. "On a cloudy day I sometimes like to see what shapes I can make out of the clouds. I used to do this a lot when I was little. See? That one looks like a castle."

Fuu pointed at the sky. Mugen followed her gaze to study the cloud in question.

"No it doesn't, it kinda looks like three dudes takin' a piss. Or three dudes fishing."

"Well, _I_ see three towers that make up a castle. And there's a even a little drawbridge, see?" she asked as she tried to point out the details. Mugen squinted his eyes at the image.

"I still see three dudes." He placed a hand on Fuu's shoulder, crouched down a little, and positioned his face closer in an attempt to match his perspective with hers. He pointed up at the sky with his free hand. "See the three heads? And their dicks or fishing poles or whatever."

Fuu didn't know what difference it would make for him to examine the cloud from her height and her perspective. With the clouds so far up, the image would have appeared exactly the same if they were standing fifty feet back, on top of a hill. To her, anyway, it was still a castle. She sighed. "Whatever floats your boat, Mugen."

At least he had imagination.


	2. Salt

**Salt**

Mugen did not like salt or things that tasted of it. He didn't mind when Jin or Fuu sprinkled some on their food, he just wouldn't eat too much of it if that were the case. Even if his food was bland, he was man enough to eat it without the enhanced flavor. He wasn't, however, strong enough to forget what salt reminded him of.

Many could argue that smell has the closest ties to human recall, that certain odors and aromas are the most effective triggers of memory. This was not the case for Mugen. For Mugen, the taste of salt was the trigger. Salt reminded Mugen too much of the ocean, of sweat, and of tears.

Salt from the ocean is what gave Mugen's hair its rugged texture and what drew the moisture out of his skin. It's the taste that trickled down to his lips, in the form of sweat, when he was caught in a brawl to save his own ass.. or someone else's. It's the taste he thought he would have tasted last before he would lose his life, drowning. It's what he had to fight back as it burned his eyes, in the form of tears, when he realized Fuu would risk her own life for him.

It would be a struggle for Mugen to ever get used to salt. But in its own way it defined his life, and he didn't like it.


	3. Stand By Me

**Stand By Me**

In the beginning, they had agreed to be Fuu's bodyguards. So when they would walk late at night, Jin and Mugen would assume their position to protect Fuu: Jin up at front, Mugen in the back. Just in case. It wasn't often that they would come across some strange, suspicious group of guys, but in case they did, they just had to consider every possibility. They have come to realize that when traveling, they cannot always tell an honest man from a creeper.

One night the trio did encounter a suspicious group of five guys or so. The ronin and the pirate watched as they each eyeballed the fragile female in between them. As they were coming close to crossing paths, the sounds of their voices became clearer. It didn't bother Mugen much to overhear one of them refer to Fuu as some kind of food, enough to fill his appetite. He decided that words didn't mean much if they were to never see them again.

It was only until he caught one of the guys giving Fuu a predatory smirk and licking his lips that Mugen decided to take his bodyguard position to another level. As the two parties approached each other, Mugen maneuvered his way up to Fuu and rested his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. She found it strange of him to do so, yet chose not to protest or pull apart while the group of guys were still within their vicinity.

Mugen caught Fuu making eye contact with the strangers, and the men returning their same hungry glances. So he leaned in and whispered in Fuu's ear, "Don't look at them."

Feeling his warm breath against her, she had almost missed what he had told her. Yet she obeyed his command, averted her eyes away from the men, and looked straight ahead with her chin up and her eyes closed. Looking like a princess with her main bodyguard, she could sense the men beginning to lose interest.

The two remained walking that way until the group of guys were well behind them, off in their own direction. "Damn, she's got a man!" they heard one of them say. "She's got two, that snobby whore," said another one.

As soon as their conversation was no longer perceptible, Fuu still found herself encased in Mugen's sideways embrace. She returned to her normal posture and told him, "You know you don't have to stand so close to me anymore."

"What, you sad that they were callin' you a snobby whore?"

"No."

"Well me either."

Whatever that meant, the two continued to walk the way they were, and Fuu didn't argue.


	4. The Ugly Truth

**A/N: **I freaking loved this movie by the way. I really agree with the idea that you aren't really supposed to have certain _reasons_ to love someone. Sometimes, you just do. :) So forgive me if I borrowed a similar line from the movie. I just thought it was suitable.

So here's a cheesy one.

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**The Ugly Truth**

Mugen loved going to brothels. He loved women and he loved whores. Why? He loved how plump their breasts were, how they just seemed pampered and _ready _to reveal themselves to him. Just him. He loved the smudge of red pigment on his lips, knowing that it had come from someone else's. He loved the weight of their bodies on top of his, or the power he felt when his was on top of theirs. He loved the way the moonlight would often shine on their painted faces, as if to camouflage their features so he could forget them in the morning. He loved that feeling in the morning when he would leave the brothel. He would leave feeling like a man. He loved all these things. Or used to, at least.

He hated feeling like a body guard, an older brother, or a knight in shining armor that comes running in last minute to save his one faithful female companion, Fuu. Or better yet, he hated feeling like a child whenever she took care of him. He hated that she was so delicate and neat, and he rather unsightly, yet she didn't mind being seen with him or even wanting to spend time with him. He hated that she was the reason why he stopped loving brothels and whores. He didn't like when he realized that there was something so much better. He didn't like that it was her and that he felt so positively good and so secure around her when he hated all these things about her. He didn't like admitting to himself that these feelings just might turn around, and why? It beat the shit out of him.


End file.
